PEORIA — The City Council’s vote on the proposed 20-year agreement between the city and Illinois American Water has been moved back to April 22.

The delay was revealed Wednesday at the second open forum the city has hosted on the proposed agreement.

Instead of being voted on at Tuesday’s City Council meeting as originally planned, the delay will allow the city to have a Chicago law firm, Holland and King, pore over the proposed agreement.

“We’re asking them to look at the agreement and give us as much feedback as possible,” Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich said. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from the public at Saturday’s forum and tonight’s, so we’re looking for some modifications to better suit their concerns.”

The announcement of the vote’s delay came after another volley of almost exclusively negative feedback from some of the 45 people attending the open forum at the Gateway Building. More than half of those who spoke or asked questions Wednesday night did the same at Saturday’s forum, including former City Councilman Robert Manning.

“This agreement only benefits the water company,” Manning said. “The agreement will guarantee that the rates for water will go up a lot.”

Active City Council members also were at the meeting, including 1st District Councilwoman Denise Moore and Beth Akeson and Chuck Weaver, who hold at-large seats on the council.

“I thank Patrick for these forums. This is the way government is to supposed work, with open and civil discussion, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Weaver said.

Weaver and Moore went on to state the council had given permission for the city to do research into a longer term agreement with Illinois American to replace the current one. Under terms of the present agreement, the city reviews a buyout of the company every five years.

“We’re not happy with this current proposed agreement. I did tell Patrick that a lawyer would have to look through this and make some changes,” Weaver said. “I would like to see a 10-year summary of the money and how we’re going to spend it on the roads.”

According to Urich and Weaver, the vote on the water deal has been officially taken off the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.

Despite the delay and the vocal opposition, Illinois American spokeswoman Karen Cotton was adamant that the company would keep working with the city on an agreement.

“We have a good working relationship with the city,” Cotton said. “Our customers have told us they don’t want to discuss a buyout every five years, so we’re going to keep working with the city on this.

Page 2 of 2 - Zach Berg can be reached at zberg@pjstar.com or 686-3257. Follow him on Twitter @ZacharyBerg.